This invention relates to a small card containing digital memory, such as a non-volatile flash EEPROM system, having exposed surface electrical contacts that allow easy connection to and removal from a receptacle of a host electronic system or device, particularly portable devices, in order to provide removable electrical connection between the system or device and the memory within the card through the exposed surface contacts of the card.
Small memory cards are increasing in popularity for use in small hand held devices such as cellular telephones, music players and other personal electronic equipment. Memory cards are being made smaller for such applications while the size of their individual external surface electrical contacts are not being reduced in size to any significant degree. This presents a challenge to the design and packaging of such memory cards. In a specific example, an existing commercial Multi-Media Card (MMC) product has been manufactured and sold for a time. The MMC has seven surface contacts extending across a short edge of the rectangular card that also includes a cut-off corner. Evolving applications for this type of memory card have made it necessary to add several external contacts without increasing the size of the card.
This has been accomplished by increasing the number of contacts of the row of contacts used on the MMC product while maintaining the position of the row along the short edge of the rectangularly shaped card. This maintains a degree of compatibility between the MMC product and the new card, known as a SD Card product. In order to increase the number of contacts, two contacts are positioned in the space previously occupied by one and another contact is positioned at the cut off corner and set back from the card edge a distance that is greater than other contacts of the row.